“Hurry up and take it away. If you say one more word, I’ll stew that dog. You’re so disrespectful, a mere animal dares to climb onto my heated brick bed.”
“Didn’t you grow flowers on this very bed? What’s the big deal about putting a dog there?” Lin Chuxia pouted. “You really won’t take a look at it? Are you over being a doctor already? Once you miss this chance, there won’t be another shop like it.”
“You think you’re so capable, do you? Then why do you need this old man to look after it? Just give it some of your vitamin pills, those seem very effective, supposedly a cure-all.”
The conversation was getting nowhere. Lin Chuxia felt a bit guilty and put the puppy on the floor, then watched Old Master He fuss over his plant.
That plant had been there for quite some time, raised by Old Master He after she became his apprentice. Initially, it was half alive, and now as the weather had gotten colder, he’d moved it onto the heated brick bed, where it seemed more lively.
“Master, what plant is this? It doesn’t really look like a plant, are you actually raising a weed for fun?”
Old Master He gave her a sidelong glance. “You’d rather use the medical books I gave you to start a fire? If you want to know, go read the books.”
Lin Chuxia scratched her head. “It’s just that I haven’t had time. When I do, I’ll definitely read them.”
“You don’t need to, what with your vitamin pills.”
Lin Chuxia: “…Master, you’ll hurt our master-apprentice relationship if you keep talking this way. Fine, I’ll stop, I’ll go back and read the books then, okay?”
Lin Chuxia left huffily with the little milk dog in her arms.
Old Master He watched her indignant back without a sound and laughed, then his gaze fell onto the bag of apples Lin Chuxia brought. He picked one up, casually wiped it, and took a bite. Truly sweet!
Lin Chuxia returned to the small courtyard’s office, not having made this trip in vain. Since Old Master He said what he said, the puppy’s leg wasn’t congenitally disabled.
She took out some spiritual spring water from her space and gave it to the puppy to drink. She couldn’t tell if the little milk dog was really thirsty or if it was just because the spiritual spring water was so sweet, but it lapped up more than half a bowl of water, its belly becoming round and taut.
“You really are greedy,” Lin Chuxia said while rubbing its belly, pondering. “Should I give you a name? Given how round your belly is, how about calling you Yuan Bao? May you bring wealth and treasure my way.”
The little milk dog was covered in light yellow fur, comfortably stretched out, letting Lin Chuxia pet its belly, really resembling a golden Yuan Bao.
………
In a courtyard two streets away, Mrs. Su quickly put down the half-washed clothes upon seeing Su Wenmao limping back.
“Where have you been all afternoon? What happened to your leg? Don’t tell me you got beaten up? Who did this? Tell me, and I’ll settle the score with them.”
Su Wenmao ignored his mother’s interrogation and asked, “Where’s Dad?”
“He’s inside taking a nap, not sure if he’s awake yet. Right, go find your dad, let him avenge you.”
Su Wenmao walked into the room, where Su Dazhuang was still snoring on the heated brick bed. Su Wenmao shook him awake without hesitation.
“Dad, do you know that Su Wensong has opened a Bun Shop?”
Su Dazhuang, still groggy, muttered, “Why are you always fixated on him? A grown man selling buns, how does that look? It’s not nearly as good as your iron rice bowl at the machinery factory.”
“He opened a Bun Shop, using their family’s side room. Do you know how close their house is to the train station? How many people buy his buns coming and going? He doesn’t even have to lift a finger; he’s hired a bunch of people, both old and young. Now he’s a boss.”
Hearing this, Su Dazhuang immediately sobered up. “He can be a boss?”
“Why not? I saw it with my own eyes. The people at the Bun Shop are very polite to him, always backing him up and flattering him. If he wasn’t the boss, would those people need to suck up to him?”
Su Wenmao thought about it and still felt infuriated. He was just a minor apprentice at the machinery factory, where anyone could step on him, and here was Su Wensong, suddenly becoming a boss.
“I stayed at the shop for the whole afternoon and saw them sell twenty or thirty baskets of buns. Calculating the day’s sales, they could make at least a few tens. If we had such a shop, who would worry about Cuicui’s job, and I wouldn’t have to take that crap at the machinery factory. Wouldn’t it be better for our family to run a small shop and be the bosses? We should have taken over that house back then.”
Evil and resentment filled his eyes.
Su Dazhuang sat up from the bed, his murky eyes gleaming with calculation. “The Bun Shop really makes that much money?”
“Don’t believe me? Go see for yourself. Not to mention the Bun Shop, you’ve heard of Qin’s Cooked Food, haven’t you?”
Su Dazhuang nodded. “I’ve heard it’s even tastier than the stuff from the Old Food Factory,” but what’s that got to do with anything?
“Qin’s Cooked Food is also sold at his Bun Shop, you tell me if they’re making money?”
This time Su Dazhuang truly believed his son. Indeed, making a few tens a day wouldn’t be a problem if that was the case.
“Dad, haven’t you always wanted me to get married early so you could hold a grandchild? Whether Cuicui and I can make it depends on you. Her family said either give her a job or a hefty dowry. If you can take over Su Wensong’s Bun Shop for me, we’d have nothing to worry about.”
Wouldn’t that cover both a job and the cash for a hefty dowry?
Later he and Cuicui could open a husband-and-wife shop, just thinking about it made him quite pleased.
Su Dazhuang nodded. His son was already twenty-five or twenty-six without a love interest, but this year, with the job at the machinery factory, matchmakers started coming. However, given his son’s circumstances… if he hadn’t demanded such a high dowry, he wouldn’t have gotten any suitors.
A few years earlier, arranging a job for his son would have been no issue, but now he was barely scrapping by himself. If he had been that capable, would his son have been jobless for so many years?
As for a hefty dowry, that was out of the question. His wife didn’t work, and over the years, they relied on his meager salary; where would they get the money for that?
Yet indeed, they couldn’t procrastinate any longer on his son’s matter. If things were as his son said, and they had their own shop…
……
The next day, it was Lin Chuxia and Su Wensong again who went to the cotton mill together.
On the way, Lin Chuxia asked Su Wensong, “Did you prepare the red envelope I asked you to?”
“I’ve got it all ready. Does the boss need it now?”
“Hand it over to me.”
Lin Chuxia took the item Su Wensong passed to her, checked to make sure there were no problems, and put it into her bag.
When they arrived at Kang Yong’s office, he already had the contract prepared.
This time, the contract was just a simple agreement, not as formal as those in later times. It was drafted on a piece of the cotton mill’s headed notepaper, listing the content agreed upon by both parties, and then stamped with the cotton mill’s official seal at the end.
Both parties needed to sign it, and Lin Chuxia, as party B, had to apply her thumbprint.
However, even at that time, this had legal effect and was recognized if shown.
Lin Chuxia glanced at it and confirmed that it was the content they had agreed upon yesterday. The lease period mentioned in the document was one year.